Awake or Dreaming
by YoungKidStories
Summary: Aidan Daniels is your typical teenager that leads a typical life of playing video games and getting sub-par grades. He has a group of friends that he hangs out with, though dispersed. One day however, just before a rare trip to the arcade with his friends, Aidan experiences something he just can't explain.
1. Prologue: New Year

Prologue

A New Year

January 7, 2013. Starting today, winter vacation is over and all the schools in the area are back in session. However, if you happened to be one of my teachers, classmates, or friends, you would have noticed that I was nowhere to be found. Why? I'll tell you why.

Let's rewind back to New Year's. You see, there's a certain yearly tradition that I keep up, and no, it's not something weird or breath taking. It's just something I did as a kid that I decided to continue out of complete boredom. Every year after midnight, I see how long I can stay up. This year, my family went to a New Year's party in Surry. The waiters served soup, fish, rice, and chicken, along with tons of deserts. After dinner, there was a Rancho performance, and after that, the DJ played music for people to dance to. Needless to say, it was nothing new in my family. If anything it was getting old. As people danced, I sat at the far end of the banquette hall and played Burnout on my PSP. My mom kept encouraging me to dance, but I told her that it wasn't my thing. Eventually, the countdown commenced, and within the span of ten seconds, it was January 1, 2013. It was two in the morning by the time we got home, and everyone went to bed, except for me. I ended up using my mom's laptop until about five in the morning. After that, I hit the sack. I woke up the next day somewhere around noon and one in the afternoon. I spent the day on my computer, wasting my time with Minecraft and YouTube videos. Then it hit me. What if I did the same thing every night for the rest of my vacation? Of course I now realize how stupid of an idea it was, but at the time I was more occupied with the idea. So, as fate would have it, I found my self on my last day of vacation. The night before, I had set my alarm in an attempt to turn my sleeps around, and as you might guess, I didn't even hear it. So I decided to go to bed early, but I was still wide awake when four am rolled round. When I finally started dosing off, I realized that there was no way in hell I was gonna get up in the morning.

And here I am, in my bed, half-asleep, when I'm supposed to be at school.

"I just hope I don't miss anything important."


	2. Chapter 1: Tired Minds

Chapter 1

Tired Minds

The next morning, my mom walked into my room and ripped the covers off my bed. Then she 'persuaded' me to get up and get ready for school. After she left to go start the car, I warily glanced at my alarm clock. On Monday, the day before, my brother had given me shit for setting my alarm on a Sunday and not on a Monday. I was pretty sure that I had set it, but either way I made absolutely sure that I set it that following night. It didn't matter though, because I still didn't hear it. Add in another sleepless night and you get a mind on overload. All I wanted was to go back to sleep, but my mom had made up her mind. I was going to school.

My mom gave me some money so I could get something to eat. I spent most of it buying a breakfast burrito in the cafeteria, which I ate on the way to class.

Now, before I continue the story, I'd like to explain my school's interesting schedule system. You see, the order of classes rotates on a daily basis. On Mondays, the class order is 1,2,3,4. On Tuesdays, it's 2,1,4,3. On Wednesdays, it's 3,4,1,2, and so on and so forth. Friday is mystery day. It changes every week, so one week it'll be Monday's schedule, and the next it'll be Tuesday's schedule. Today was a Tuesday, which meant that I had my easier classes first. It also meant I could get some shut eye if needed.

The first half of the school day went rather quickly, and no, I didn't fall asleep; even though I probably should have. I went to the computer lab when the bell rang for lunch. I wasn't hungry, so I didn't bother with my lunch bag. About half way through lunch, I walked down to the cafeteria to get something to drink. At this point, the cafeteria was pretty empty and quiet, which meant there wasn't much of a line at the cash register. I walked up to the beverage fridge and slid it opened. It contained the usual suspects, milk, juice, bottled water, and an assortment of soda. Then I saw it, placed on the shelf above the milk. I reached in and grabbed it. It was a can of Iced Tea, my favorite. In the year and a half that I've attended this school, and all the times I've looked in this fridge, I've never noticed the line of Iced Tea cans. As far as I was concerned, they didn't start selling it until recently.

"Whatever," I said with a sigh. I turned and walked toward the cash register, letting the fridge door slide closed behind me. I went down the isle that lead to the cashier, and found myself behind a black haired Asian girl who was buying a burger and fruit juice. The back of her black hoody had some kind of spiral design on it. Setting my drink on the counter, I waited for my turn.

"That'll be four twenty-five." I heard the cashier say. The girl set the food on the counter and reached into her pocket. She pulled out a five dollar bill and handed it to the cashier. The cashier was a woman that looked to be in her fifties. She had brown hair that was tied back into a pony tail. She rung up the purchase and opened the money tray, placing the bill in one of the slots. She was about to hand the girl her change when she realized that the girl had grabbed her food and started walking away.

"You forgot your change!" she called, but the girl kept walking. It was odd for someone to just forget their change like that, but hey, there's a first for everything. I was reaching into my jean pocket to retrieve what was left-over from my previous purchase, when the cashier stretched her arm in my direction. In her hand were three quarters.

"Will you be a dear and give her her change?"

"Huh?" The request caught me a little off guard, but I figured I was too much of a nice guy to say no. "Uh, sure."

I took the change and jogged after the girl. She was walking through the main lobby when I caught up to her.

"Excuse me." No reply. "Hello?" No reply, again. "Earth to girl?" _Still _no reply. She just kept walking, giving me the cold shoulder. "Would you just stop?" I placed my hand on her shoulder, thinking it would get her attention, and boy, did it get her attention. As soon as my hand made contact, she spun around and swung her fist at me. I managed to dodge her, but I tripped and landed flat on my ass. "Ow!" I looked up, expecting her to throw another punch, but she just stood there breathing heavily. She was in a fighting stance and her right fist was suspended in the air where it almost came in contact with my face. The silence that followed was incredibly awkward. I was sitting on the floor, she was standing there like a statue, we were staring at each other (at least I think she was staring back), and the stares from the passing students were beginning to hurt. So I stood up, adjusted my glasses and broke the ice. "So, you treat everyone like that or do you have something against good samaritans?"

"Good samaritan?" she said quietly. She went back to a normal stance and seemed to relax a little.

"Yeah, I'm just a good samaritan."

"..." She looked at me like I had just stepped through a wall.

"Anyway, here's your change," I reached my hand out, "you left it at the cash register." She sheepishly reached her hand out and grabbed the coins.

"Thanks..." And now her cheeks seemed red, as if she were blushing.

_What is with this girl?_

I was about to turn and leave when I noticed something.

"Hey." She jumped. "What happened to your food?"

"It's in my pocket." She didn't make eye contact as she pull a burger from her hoody pocket.

"Oh, okay." I turned to leave. "See you around."

_Did that really just happen? _ That's the one question that went through my head while I walked back to the cafeteria. Something had just happened in my incredibly boring life, and my mind was reeling. The last time someone threw a punch at me was in elementary school when I tried to stand up to some bullies; and the way she acted, on edge and shy, it was almost like she wasn't expecting an average everyday person to walk up and say hi.

When I got back to the cash register, I found that the kind older woman had been replaced by a red haired chubby woman in her thirties. I also saw that my Iced Tea was still on the counter.

"You gonna pay for it?" Her voice sounded impatient.

"Pay for the drink?"

"Well, duh!"

"Yeah, one sec." I dug my hand back into my jean pocket and fished out the money I needed. I was about to it over when I noticed. On the can of Iced Tea and under the main lettering was the word "DIET" in big, green, hand-written letters.

"Diet Iced Tea?" I picked up the can to make sure I wasn't seeing things.

"Yeah, we only sell sugar free soft drinks, something about how diabetics should be able to drink them."

"Okay, but Diet Iced Tea?"

"Hey, I don't make the rules." I can understand the idea behind it, but diet Iced Tea is a bit much, not to mention that diet sodas are much worse than the original product. Anyway, the whole 'diet' thing was a deal breaker. I put my money back in my pocket and walked back to the fridge, placing the can back in the fridge. I then walked out of the cafeteria and down the hallway toward the vending machines.

"Great, it's out of Cara-milk to go."

Half-way through my Italian class, I realized that I couldn't stand the idea of another class standing between me and the end of the school day. So when the bell went at the end of third period, I pulled my umbrella out of my bag and made my way downstairs instead of going to Math.

It had been raining all day, grass was muddy, roads were slick and parked cars were coved in little pellets of water. Cars sprayed up mist as they drove passed. I was walking down the country road that passed by my school on the way into town. The sound of the rain and passing cars were somewhat relaxing.

I walked through my front door about half an hour later. I hung my soaked umbrella on the coat rack next to the door and dumped my bag on the storage bench next to the stairs. I was in the process of untying my shoes, when I heard the door bell ring.

I opened the door to find an ox of a man standing there, his uniform soaking wet.

"Is your name Aidan Daniels?" The man asked.

"Yeah."

"Sign here." He handed me an electronic clip board. Writing my signature on the small digital display was like trying to draw with a computer mouse. It looked really messy. Once I was done, I handed back the clipboard and in turn was handed a yellow envelope that was slightly larger than a DVD case.

"Have a nice day." The man muttered as he proceeded back to his truck.

Closing the door, I ripped open the envelope. Inside was a copy of 'Raw Danger' for PS2. The case was a little ruffed up and the cover insert showed water damage on the edges, but the disk inside was in pristine condition. I raced into the Rec room and popped the disk into my bulky PS2. I then spent the rest of the day playing the first story campaign instead of doing my homework.


	3. Chapter 2: A Dose of Weirdness

Chapter 2

A Dose of Weirdness

I was looking up at the TV in the main lobby, it was advertising some kind of "I" day on Wednesday the 30th. That wasn't why I was looking at it though. I wanted to know the date, but since today was also a Wednesday and the date shown was a week from now, I figured that some simple math would suffice.

Yup, today is the 23rd, and it's been almost a month since school started back up. During that time, I've fallen back into the boring loop that is my high school life. The only thing worth noting is that little run in I had. Speaking of which, I haven't seen that girl around school. I wonder what she's been up to.

"Yeah, 'cause it's any of my business."

I turned and headed back to class before any teachers could come along and get me in trouble.

Since the computer lab is closed on Wednesdays, I spent my lunch break in the library trying to work on my stories. Yes, I'm a writer, but most of my stories don't end up going anywhere. The ones that do go somewhere take forever to write because of all the little things that need to go into them.

For example: "I was in the driver's seat of my red 1981 Ford Thunderbird, heading up Fraser St. I occasionally glanced at the buildings as I made my way along the tired streets of Metro Vancouver: a Canadian city sprawling with houses, businesses, skyscrapers, parks, and fast food joints.

Some song called 'Here for a Good Time' was playing on the radio. I was a big fan of the band that wrote it, but I didn't like this particular song. So I pried a hand off the steering wheel and reached for the radio to switch the station.

"Don't even think about it." I looked over at the passenger seat where my sister Samantha was sitting. She was reading a book. Looking at her reminded me of our mother. Sam was like a clone of her, but with subtle differences like eye colour and hair style.

"Why?" I questioned, "Do you like his song?"

"Obviously," Sam answered with a trace of irritation in her voice.

"Somebody's cranky," I teased as I placed my hand back on the wheel.

"Yeah well, I wasn't planning on being dragged out of bed at six in the morning," she complained.

"And I wasn't planning on driving you to school," I said back.

"It's not my fault I don't know where my school is!" she shot back.

"And maybe if you bothered to ask, you would know," I calmly answered."

That alone took me two days to write and I'm just gonna end up scraping it. I packed up when the bell rang for third period.

Finals were coming up, so you can imagine what was on everyone's mind. However, while everyone was thinking about studying, I was thinking about the five days off and how I'd screwed up in math class. A 60.2% isn't bad when I think about it, but when you've got a math exam first thing Monday morning and you haven't even touch your textbook, you might as well kiss that passing grade goodbye.

I was looking forward to the weekend, though. My plan was to go check out the Vancouver Flea Market before hanging out with an old friend of mine named Andrew. Then, my family was gonna go eat at the Old Spaghetti Factory in New West and see a movie. Like I said, I was looking forward to the weekend, but when Saturday finally came around, my plans fell apart. First, Andrew called me up to say that we couldn't hang out; his parents needed him to help unpack from a recent move. Then it took us forever to get to Vancouver because the traffic was backed up on 10th. It turned out that some guy's car had stalled just before the Kingsway intersection.

By the time we drove past Metrotown, the flea market was already closed. That was another thing off the list.

After we ate, we simply went home. No movie, no nothing. Some weekend, huh?

The most of my Sunday was spent watching anime on my computer. I can't remember which one I was watching, though I'm pretty sure it was 'A Certain Magical Index.' Never mind, that's off topic. Eventually, I got off my ass, grabbed my math textbook and went up to my room to at least try to study. I was ready to quit not long after starting. I mean, how was I supposed to read an entire textbook in a few hours? I flipped through the pages, trying to relearn what my class had done the past few months, and then I found my answer. Apparently, there's a two page section after each chapter that serves as a study guide. Suddenly, studying for the exam didn't seem so hard.

I walked out of the small gym around noon the next day. I had just finished writing my exam, and I was feeling good. To top it off, I had the rest of the day off. Even the sun was shining, which is something you don't usually see in late January.

The walk home was as boring as usual; at least it was boring to a point. When I walk home, I take a short cut down the nature tails. The tails tend to flood a lot in the winter months, but today they were dry as a bone.

I was walking down the main path when I saw a teenage girl. She was a little ways ahead of me and was headed in the same direction as I was. She looked strangely familiar. I didn't usually see people on the trails, and when I did, they mostly consisted of adults walking their dogs and elderly people going for a stroll. I shrugged it off at first, thinking that I clearly wasn't the only teen around who used this path as a short cut, but the route she choose became incredibly uncanny. First, she took a right at the duck pond. Then, an immediate left, and through the elderly centre parking lot. It had to be a coincidence.

I was half-way through said parking lot when I realized why she looked familiar. Shoulder length black hair, the why she walked like she wasn't aware of her surroundings, hell, she was even wearing the same black hoody with the weird spiral design on it. It was her, and knowing that, I had the sudden urge to talk to her. I started running. She was crossing the street, if I ran fast enough I could cross before the light changed. No such luck. I had to wait for the light to change again. I waited a few seconds before hitting the cross-walk button. Usually when I did this, the light changed right away, but not today. The traffic light stayed a solid green as cars drove through the intersection. Hitting the button a few more times did nothing. I watched as the girl slowly walked out of view.

I was across the street from the elementary school. The girl was gone; it was almost like she had evaporated. Maybe she went into the school. No, she couldn't have. They kick you out if you're not a student there. Besides, I would have seen her walk up to the main doors.

As if to add insult, the traffic light turned red and the crossing sign displayed a white walking figure. I crossed and continued walking home. It wasn't much farther.

I turned onto my street. I could see my house and my brother's old car parked in the driveway. As I got closer, I noticed someone was walking down the driveway. I couldn't quite tell who it was but-

_-she's wearing a black hoody._

I stopped dead in my tracks. It was her. It was the girl I ran into at school, the one who I had just seen. She had walked down the remainder of the driveway and was now standing on the road in front of my house. She was staring at it. I needed to talk to her. I needed to know why she was standing in front of my house.

"Hey!" I started running toward her, "Hey you!" She turned her head in my direction. We held eye contact for a couple of seconds before she darted in the other direction. "Wait!" She ran behind the hedges separating my front yard from that of my neighbour's. I raced for them, and became dumbfounded when I reached them.

She was gone. It was just like before, almost like she had evaporated. There was no way to escape like that without being seen, especially when there's a house wall blocking your way. "What the hell is going on?"


	4. Chapter 3: Remembrance

Chapter 3

Remembrance

It was mid-June and the sun was shining in all its boiling hot glory. My first year of high-school was coming to a close and summer vacation was right around the corner. So you can imagine why any student in their right mind would be staring at the nearest clock like their life depended on it. At least that's what I was doing as I sat at my desk in fourth period. My Science teacher was scribbling something on the overhead projector, but I wasn't paying attention. If anything, I was itching to get out of my seat and leave my classroom for the last time without looking back.

Then I heard it, the dull tone known as the bell. I got out of my seat and packed up my stuff before walking out into the hallway.

Students were walking in every direction as they met up with friends and emptied their lockers, all while looking for an exit. This resulted in the biggest student-made traffic jam in my freshman year. I took the long route through the court yard to avoid it. I ran into Natt after walking through the cafeteria.

"Hey man, can you believe it! It's the last day of school!" Natt was grinning ear to ear, clearly happy to have made it through his first year of high-school. His short, black hair was sticking up in the air like it always did; as if he'd forgotten to comb it. He was a bit shorter than I myself and wore a pair of glasses.

"Oh, I can believe it."

"Man, this summer is gonna be awesome!"

"Wish I could be there." I turned around to find Tyler standing behind us.

"Why? Are you going somewhere?" That was Natt.

"Yeah, my mom's sending me to a cadet camp. After that I'm gonna spend most of the summer on the island with my dad."

"I didn't know your dad lives on the island."

"Yeah, I guess I forgot to mention that."

"So, when are you coming back?" That was Natt again.

"I don't know if I will be."

"Huh?"

"I'm thinking of moving to the island."

My alarm clock was blaring. It had to be the first time I'd heard it in weeks. I turn it off and lay in my bed. I was waging war with my eyes, trying to keep them open. I must've dozed off at some point, because next thing I knew, my other alarm clock was going off. I forced myself out of bed and walked over to it. I set it on radio and went back to bed. I lay in my bed for about an hour, listening to the radio as I drifted in and out of consciousness. Eventually, my older sister opened my bedroom door and asked to borrow my copy of 'Back to the Future.' I'm pretty sure I said no, but she took in anyway. Not long after that, I forced myself back out of bed and walked down the hall to the bathroom. My sister was watching 'Back to the Future' in the living room, which is right next to my room.

It was Saturday again, and just like last weekend, I had plans. At the time, though, one of the things I looking forward to had already fallen through. Tyler was supposed to come by on Friday so we could hang out. That didn't happen. I sent him a message on Facebook to see what had happened. He sent a reply saying: "Oh I forgot to tell you I had an exam week this week and had to cancel my ortho appointment I will be there the week after next week sorry about that."

_He never uses punctuation._

At least I could still go to the flea market. That's what I thought, anyway.

After I got dressed, I went downstairs and into the Rec room. Closing the door as I entered, I approached my shelf of games and selected Silent Hill 2 for PS2. Putting the disk into the disk drive, I grabbed the controller and started playing. The next thing I knew, it was three o'clock. I quickly saved my progress and ran upstairs to get ready. Time flies, and I tend to hate that.

We were on our way to Vancouver. My mom had taken a different route than last time, part to save time, part to drop my sister off at her apartment in Burnaby. I stared out the window from the backseat. The dream I had had that morning had got me thinking. No, it wasn't a dream. It was my brain replaying what happened just before summer break last year. My alarm clock had stopped it before it could further remind me, but it didn't stop me from thinking about. It was then, on the last day of school, that my social life was threatened with a knife and then stabbed repeatedly over the course of that summer. I tried to push it to the back of my mind and read the book I'd recently bought, but it kept pushing back. Then, the image of that girl popped up in its place. She was seemingly normal, yet she also had weird things about her. She was ignorant, aggressive and shy within the span of a minute, and then there was that thing where she kept disappearing and reappearing.

The words, _Is she from the future or something?_, crossed my mind. I grinned. _Oh sure, and she's here to tell me that I'm an alien and I have to save the world or something._

The words, "He's not interested in it!" broke my train of though and brought me back to reality.

"Of course he's interested." That was my mom. While I was thinking about how much last summer had sucked, my mom and sister had gotten into another argument. From what I could gather, they were going on about the estate again.

"Are you guys talking about the estate?" I was fishing for confirmation.

"Do you want part of the estate?" That was my sister. She had suddenly turned around in her seat and was staring at me with her brown eyes; her long, brown hair tucked behind her ears.

"Of course."

"See?" My mom said as my sister settled back in her seat.

"What do you want from it?" my mom asked.

"Didn't we already go over this?" I was pretty sure we had.

"I forgot what you chose."

I sighed.

"I want uncle Jack's place above the store."

"You can't have that!" my sister objected, "It's Rafael's!"

"If he wanted it, then he shouldn't have chosen the old chicken farms on the hill. Besides, aren't the chicken farms a better deal for him since he can build whatever he wants on the property?"

"Who said he's getting the chicken farms?" My sister had turned around in her seat again.

"Didn't we settle this already? Rafael gets the chicken farms and we get grandma and grandpa's store, their house, and uncle Jack's apartment."

"Well, it's starting to look like it hasn't been settled yet." I could tell my mom wasn't happy about her statement. The last thing we needed was more unnecessary drama.

"Hey." My sister was still turned around in her seat, "What would you do with uncle Jack's apartment?"

"I'd use it as a vacation home."

"Yeah, 'cause you'd ever go to Portugal for vacation." She settled back in her seat.

"Who says I can't."

That was the end of our conversation.

We dropped my sister off at her apartment and made our way to the flea market downtown. We would have made it to, if the main doors hadn't closed at 4:30 instead of 5:00. Two weekends in a row, it had to be some kind of cruel joke.

In an attempt to salvage my day, I decided to go to the CHQ Arcade at Metrotown, and after being dragged around the city for three hours, my mom dropped me off there. She gave me ten dollars along with her cell phone before she left to go visit a friend for a couple of hours. All I had to do was be waiting at the mall entrance when she came back at 10:00.

I entered the mall and climbed the deactivated escalator to the second floor. The mall was buzzing with activity; movie goers were climbing the stairs to the Silver City on the third floor and shoppers wondered around as they purchased things like food and clothing. Then you had the teens, like myself, who were craving some videogame action. As I walked towards the arcade, I noticed a store call 'Sakura Media.' It was an Anime store, and one that I had been looking for. For some odd reason, it had never occurred to me to check the mall's second floor. Interesting how that works.

Entering the arcade was like stepping into a soundproof room with a party inside. The place was full of teenagers, moving about as they went from arcade machine to arcade machine. I waded through the crowd and up to the main counter. There was an older Asian gentleman sitting behind it reading a magazine.

"Uh… hi. Could I get some change?" I asked, holding up the ten dollar bill that my mom had given me. The man looked up at me for a brief second before returning to his magazine and pointing towards a white rectangular machine about a metre away on my right. I figured that it was one of those Token machines and promptly delivered an awkward "Thanks" before getting out of his hair. Of course, the machine the man had pointed to was out of order. Well not quite. It still accepted coin currency in exchange for game tokens, but the slot for dollar bills was out of order. So, I walked around the arcade, searching for another Token machine, and I found one, on the wall, two feet from the main counter.

_Thanks a lot, Asian guy at counter, thanks a whole friggin lot._

Needless to say, I exchanged my money for tokens and went about playing arcade games. A little Initial D here, a little House of the Dead 2 there, a little Metal Slug 6 over there, and a lot of Rush San Francisco Rock Alcatraz Edition in the back. All in all, I had a great time, and as I made my way back to the mall's front entrance, I got an idea.

_My friends and I and the arcade, perfect._


	5. Chapter 4: Fork in the Road

Chapter 4

Fork in the Road

It was last block on a Thursday. First semester had ended a couple of weeks prier, so I was in Info Tech instead of Math. I was sitting at my computer listening to music and working on my stories; even though I was supposed to be going through the basics of HTML. I couldn't help it; I just wanted the day to end so I could go home and confirm my plans with Tyler.

After what felt like forever, the bell finally rang. I logged off my computer and grabbed my bag before leaving. The 'End of the Day' traffic jam was in session so I took an alternate route past the Automotive building. I found my friends Joe and Cali waiting out in the parking lot close to where the school bus usually stopped.

"So, when is Tyler coming by tomorrow?" Joe asked as I approached.

"I don't know yet, I still need to clarify things with him." I answered, "Though, it would be best if you came by my house around noon."

"Tyler's coming by?" Cali was standing next to Joe. "How come no one told me?"

_Guilty as charged._

"Sorry about that, I've been meaning to tell you."

"Well go figure," Cali said indifferently, "the one day he comes by and I have to watch my little sister."

"Can't your mom watch her?" I questioned.

"She works tomorrow," he sounded tired.

"That sucks," I muttered, digging my hands into the pockets of my jeans. With my hands in my pockets, I could feel a folded five dollar bill, my keys, and…

_Wait; something's missing; something important._

I fished around some more, thinking that it was hiding in my pocket somewhere, but found nothing. I pulled my keys out and shoved my hand back into my pocket, but what I was digging for was gone. I was horrified, no, that's too strong of a word. What I was feeling was more along the lines of shock and disbelief. By this point, my friends were looking at me as if to say, 'What are you doing?' and they probably would have voiced this if I hadn't shouted.

"Shit!" I stuffed my keys back into my pocket.

"What's wrong?" Joe asked.

"I forgot my USB in the computer lab!" I slipped off my backpack," Joe, watch my bag for me!" Plopping my bag at his feet, I took off running.

_How could I have done something so stupid! My stories are on it! I could kick myself right now!_ Those are some of the thoughts that were going through my head as I made a b-line for the computer lab. Now that I think about it, if I had remembered to unplug my USB from the computer, none of the following would have happened; A fork in the road of fate as they say.

I slammed through the doors of the Tech Wing just as my teacher was locking up the computer lab.

"Hold the door!" I shouted.

"What's the matter?" He asked as I ran past him.

"I forgot something!"

I raced to the computer I used in class everyday and found my USB still plugged into the computer. With a sigh of relief, I pulled the flash drive out of the USB port and put it in my pocket.

"I'm not gonna do that again."

"Did you get what you need?" I turned and looked toward the door. My teacher was holding the door open with his foot since his hands were busy carrying a boxed projector.

"Yeah." I started jogging for the door.

"You probably shouldn't-"

My teacher didn't get a chance to finish, because, as I passed one of the desks, I tripped. What I tripped on exactly I'm still not sure of, since I wasn't close enough to a desk or pushed in chair, but it sent me sprawling. I managed to regain my balance, but only to slip on the wet floor. I fell back and hit the ground, hard. Sitting up, I rubbed the back of my head. The blinding sunlight forced me to shield my eyes with my hand.

_Wait, Sunlight?_

I looked to my right. There was a big, green framed window extending from wall to wall.

The computer lab had windows high above the floor that almost touched the ceiling and smaller windows closer to the floor that had bars on the outside and were spaced further apart than the ones above them. But this wasn't the computer lab; the room I was currently in was much smaller, at least a third in size. The wall to wall window started at about table height and stopped near the ceiling. A computer sat on a desk in front of the window, with the monitor facing said window. The desk itself was about the size of any student desk with a cubby in any classroom. The floor was made of wood, hardwood maybe, but the design consisted of small squares like a black and white tile floor. Each square contained four strips of hardwood that either went 'top to bottom' or 'left to right'. In front of me was a table, it was situated in the centre of the room. Beyond the table was a bookshelf, and though it contained twice as many books than I owned at the time, it managed to look somewhat empty. A door was at the far end of the room, opposite the window. I had never been here before, but the room was strikingly familiar.

It struck me in less time than it takes to say 'Plumbers Don't Wear Ties is the worst videogame ever'. I knew where I was, but it just didn't seem possible. There was no way.

The sound of a book being closed echoed in the room. I knew what it meant before I even turned to look. In the corner of the room, to the right of the window, a girl was sitting on a folding chair. Her short hair was silver and her eyes of liquid mercury stared at me from behind her glasses. It was impossible, but here I was, here she was. Her stare was blank and her face emotionless. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

I stumbled to my feet and made a run for the door, but before I could reach it, it swung open. Another familiar character was revealed; one with orange hair and a confused expression on her face. She didn't know who I was, but I knew who she was. I ran past her and down the hall toward the stairs.

_This is messed up._

I skipped steps as I careened down the stairs and out the doors on the main floor, stopping for a brief second to catch my breath and gather my thoughts. The main gate was on the other side of a courtyard to my right, separating the main buildings, and seemed to be the most direct route, but if my memory was correct, there was a shorter and less open route on my left that went along the building I had just exited.

"-if that's really the case, then show me your power." The words struck me like a brick, "If you can do that, then I'll believe everything you've said to me." There was a row of wooden tables to my left, and sitting at one of those tables were two guys about my age. I also knew who they were.

"For starters, how about you try heating up this cup of coffee here."

This wasn't happening. It had to be a dream.

_Yeah, a dream._

I was dreaming; it was the only thing that would make sense.

As they continued talking, I tried to nonchalantly walk toward the main gate, 'tried' being the key word. Sooner than I wanted to, I was bolting for the gate. I didn't know if they had noticed me, but I was sure someone else had.

Once I was out the gate, I ran down the large hill the characters climbed every day and didn't stop until I reached the bottom. The combination of running and the blazing hot sunlight left me soaked in sweat and tired beyond belief. My hands were on my knees as I stared at the ground, gasping for air. Of course, I now had absolutely no I idea where I was other than being somewhere in Kyoto Japan, and even that I wasn't sure of. There was also the fact that I didn't know how I'd ended up in Japan. The weather didn't seem right either. Last I had checked, it was early February, and in the lower mainland, weather like this didn't come along until late March at the very least. Then again, this was Japan...

"Hey, are you alright?" The voice sounded familiar, and looking up, I realized why. It was my computer teacher, the one who had been holding the computer lab door open with his foot. At first, I was wondering what he was doing in Japan, and then I remembered him saying something about that during class; about how he used to live in Japan.

I thought about saying, 'Hey Mr. Flemmet, how's it going?' but chose not to. The show was set in 2003, so saying that would only serve to confuse him. It would be nine years before he would even meet me, let alone be my teacher.

"I'm fine, thanks." I attempted to walk past him, fully aware of just how screwed I was, when I heard something crack. I looked around; all I could see was a lively, Japanese city street and Mr. Flemmet with a concerned look on his face.

"Are you sure? You don't look too good." Mr. Flemmet was still talking to me.

As I continued walking, more cracking was heard. Stopping and lifting my foot to examine the ground solved nothing. Then suddenly, the sound of glass shattering echoed off the nearby buildings, and the city street simply fell into a million pieces.

I woke up with a start, sitting straight up on the floor.

"Hey," the voice drew my attention to the door, "are you alright?" Mr. Flemmet left his spot at the door and placed the box he was holding on his desk before rushing over.

"Uh… Yeah." I was right, it had been a dream; I tried to wrap my mind around that.

"That was a nasty fall you had there." Mr. Flemmet pointed out as he walked up. "Here," he held out his hand. Grabbing it in the form of a handshake, he pulled me to my feet.

"Thanks," I rubbed the back of my head.

_I must have hit my head really hard to have a dream like that._

"I should have warned you about the floor, the janitor came to clean it earlier than usual."

"It wasn't the floor, I tripped on a desk or something."

"Yeah…" he glanced at the desk behind me, "Are you sure you're-" He stopped mid-sentence, a quizzical look on his face.

An awkward silence followed.

"Uh, sorry about that. I just remembered something from awhile back."

"Really?"

"Yeah, almost like déjà vu."

More silence.

"Anyway, are you sure you're okay? I can take you down to the office and get you an ice pack."

My reeling mind didn't allow me to fully comprehend the last few things he had said; all I wanted to do was run out the door to the computer lab and keep going until I got home.

"Thanks, but I'm fine. I'll see you on Monday."

I struggled to keep my cool as I walked towards the door, but once I was out in the hall and out of sight, I bolted for the exit. When I reached the double doors of the Tech Wing, I opened the right one so forcefully that anyone standing next to it would have been body slammed; or at least end up with a nasty bruise.

As fate would have it though, I felt the door hit something, followed by: "Fuck, my nose!" It was a girls voice, and it sounded a bit familiar. I would have stopped to check if she was okay, however, I wanted to get the hell away from the building that is my school and not come back until I had to. So a quick glance back at the door and a loud "Sorry!" had to do. I kept running for a few more seconds before stopping and spinning back around.

When I had glanced back to yell that I was sorry, I could have sworn that I saw black hair and a hoody that matched. But now, I watched as the door to the Tech Wing slowly closed. There was no one there. No one at all.

"The hell?"

I stared at the door to the Tech Wing, and then down the outdoor space in-between the Science and Tech Wings. Something weird was definitely going on, and was I going to stick around and find out what it was and maybe do something interesting and abnormal?

_Hell no. I getting the fuck out of here_.

I turned and ran. I ran back through the Recreational Wing. I ran passed the Weight Lifters garage. And I ran up to my friends.

"Did you get your USB?" Joe asked.

"Yeah, thanks for watching my bag." I grabbed my backpack by one of the straps and slung it over the shoulder before I continued running.

"Hey, what's the rush?"

"And why is you back wet?" I heard Cali say.

I turned while running and yelled back, "I'll call you guys tomorrow!"


End file.
